Generally, shower heads are used to direct water from the home water supply onto a user for personal hygiene purposes. Showers are an alternative to bathing in a bath tub.
In the past, bathing was the overwhelmingly popular choice for personal cleansing. However, in recent years showers have become increasingly popular for several reasons. First, showers generally take less time than baths. Second, showers generally use significantly less water than baths. Third, shower stalls and bath tubs with shower heads are typically easier to maintain. Over time, showers tend to cause less soap scum build-up.
With the increase in popularity of showers has come an increase in shower head designs and shower head manufacturers. Over time, several shortcomings with existing shower head designs have been identified. For example, lime and calcium deposits from high mineral content water supplies have been found to clog up the shower head apertures. As a result, shower head designers have sought to use more flexible materials in the construction of shower head nozzles. Flexible shower head nozzles allow the user to manually manipulate the shower head nozzle in an effort to clear the nozzle of lime and calcium deposits. However, existing shower head designs utilizing flexible material for their shower head nozzles are often found to have poor seals thereby resulting in a leaky shower head. Leaky shower heads are noisy, wasteful and generally unappealing. Shower head designs utilizing flexible material for the nozzle portion have also been found to have irregular shower spray streams.
Another shortcoming of existing shower head designs is that the face of existing shower head designs generally have a small surface area. Correspondingly, the surface area of jet nozzles on existing shower head designs is also small. A smaller surface area of jet nozzles generally reduces the overall area of impact of the shower.
Existing shower head designs include the use of an all rubber nozzle, which can lead to difficulty in controlling water streams. Since the nozzle material is highly compliant, the water streams are not uniform and produce irregular spray patterns where the water streams are not aimed in a uniform pattern, such as a cone. Further, the manufacturing processability of the injection molded rubbers typically used for this application often produces higher degrees of flash at the orifice location resulting in inconsistent and misdirected water streams. Flash is the residual, undesired portion of material that remains with the desired portion after the molding process. One example of such a design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,361.
Additionally, current designs are limited in the ability to change the position of shower heads during use. Many shower heads are attached directly to the shower pipe and therefore can only be adjusted in limited directions. Recently, rainfall-type or drenching-type flow patterns, in which the water is delivered at a lower velocity to the user, are gaining popularity. However, in order to achieve this effect, the shower head should be positioned nearly directly over the head of the user. Existing shower heads are often limited in this capacity.
Accordingly, as recognized by the present inventors, there is a need for a shower head that allows the user to manually remove lime and calcium deposits that form in the shower head nozzle and also includes a leak-proof type seal. As recognized by the present inventors, there is also need for a shower head that includes flexible nozzles and a consistent, controllable shower spray stream. Additionally, as recognized by the present inventors there is a need for a shower head having an enlarged face with increased nozzle surface area that is capable of positioning directly over the head of a user and delivering a rainfall-type or drenching-type flow configuration.
It is with these shortcomings in mind that embodiments of the present invention have been developed.